UK college in administration with 5,600 students in limbo

The online learning platform Oxbridge Home Learning made 11 of the 25 employees redundant in the weeks before administrators were called late last year.

Oxbridge Ltd, trading as Oxbridge Home Learning, offered online GCSE, A-Level and BTEC courses but effectively ceased trading in September.

In a new administrator’s report published this month, it was revealed that 432 unsecured claims have been made against the company totalling £596,000.

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It is understood some of these claims are made by students and would be put at the back of the queue in receiving, if any, money back.

In their latest report, the administrators also revealed there are “a number of potential avenues for further investigation and enquiries” that have been identified, but would not elaborate.

What’s more, the business and certain assets of the company were sold in October to Birmingham-based Home Learning Ltd, the new report says.

The transaction was completed in December, and mostly included the intellectual property of Oxbridge worth almost £55,000.

Students have been left in limbo as a result of Oxbridge Home Learning entering administration (Image: Jan Vašek from Pixabay)

This is a company with Matthew Jones as the director, the same director as Oxbridge Ltd, Companies House documents show.

Administrators at Forvis Mazars LLP said the wheels started to come off the business when in 2024 a government-funded scheme no longer fitted with what Oxbridge provided resulting in it losing its most profitable work.

“Due to this, the vocational courses became unprofitable but this matter was not identified in a timely manner,” joint administrator Rebecca Jane Dacre said.

External funding was found from third parties to help increase cashflow, but Oxbridge was unable to maintain the loan repayments of £97,000 per month.

During this time, the cashflow difficulties resulted in “significant rent arrears accruing”, the administrator added, which resulted in the termination of the contract in August.

“Further loan facilities were terminated in July 2025, with pressure increasing for immediate repayment,” Ms Dacre said.

“Critical creditors, who provided exam results, were threatening to withdraw due to the significant arrears and threatening to issue a winding up petition.”

The BBC reported one 17-year-old student from Banbury who said it is “very stressful” for students applying for university.

Student Amelia, whose surname was not disclosed, said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen next because I had a whole plan of what was going to happen with university. But obviously universities require A-level grades.”

The business has debts of £2,561,715 – although this could be higher with the pupils – owed to tutors, companies and HMRC.

Documents revealing the state of what remains of the company reveal HMRC is owed £737,884 in unpaid VAT and PAYE.